Woke up this morning and the sewer seems to be backed up. We have a utility sink in the basement that the washer drains into. It is the lowest drain in the house and had about 3" of water in it. I called the township and am waiting for them to take a look at their side. There is a cast iron piece where the sewer enters/exits my house that has a little water on the top of it. Does anyone know what this piece is and what it does? Attached is a picture. Thanks.

I bet you need to have a plumber run a snake through the main line in your house.

The house I lived in growing up had plumbing problems. The plumber would come snake the pipes and it would fix it for a while. Finally they ran a camera down into the pipe. A tree root had cracked the pipe causing a real problem. The foundation had to be torn up and cut out so that the pipe could be repaired. It was a huge pita

Hopefully your problem is not as big.

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Thanks for the replies guys. I'm hoping its nothing major, but there is a pretty large weeping cherry tree right over top of where my sewer line runs. If the township says their lines are clear, I think I'm going to run a snake from a cleanout that I have right next to the utility sink. If that doesn't work I'll have to get a plumber in.

Wouldn't that be a inline check valve (one-way valve)? That's what it looks like to me. Regardless, don't take it apart.
Your clean outs should be approx 4-8" inches off the floor and appear to be at a 45 dgeree angle.

Wouldn't that be a inline check valve (one-way valve)? That's what it looks like to me. Regardless, don't take it apart.
Your clean outs should be approx 4-8" inches off the floor and appear to be at a 45 dgeree angle.

Kinda looks like a check valve to me too (but I'm in the natural gas business so not positive).

I've had my rental mainline cleaned out a few times already. Mainly due to tree roots coming in. As long as you maintain (yearly cleaning), you might be OK. I've used the "claw" type cleaning and the hydropressure cleaning. Can't tell you the better one but the big thing is maintain. If the roots get too big, it opens up the hole bigger and then you may be looking at a new line.

Also, when done, send a camera down it to see what's going on. I think tree roots are pretty common....

That doesn't seem to have the raised square on it, for removing when it needs to be cleaned out. It may have been intended as an inlet at construction, but capped off. If you scrape around the cover's perimeter and see lead and what looks like rope impregnated with wax (oakum), it's not a clean-out and is supposed to be permanent. It may have had tar dripped into the joint, too.